Use of "offensive" language on the forum

[zenga]

Unless you've been living under a rock, you HAD to know about the negative connotations of the term. I can't imagine this is the first time you've ever heard anyone complain about casual use, especially in a congratulatory or smiling-with-pride-for-your-accomplishments manner. And again, there are a TON of alternatives to that word, the use of any of which might have pointed you out as not being part of the 12-year-old point-and-click-warrior crowd.
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Trying to make it out like you're being abused because you didn't know any better is...puerile.

I don't think I've been living under a rock. The English we see/read is a very colourful language. I speak Flemish (which is like Dutch), French, English and German, and English is by miles the language that uses the most colourful adjectives in my experience. Your average somewhat decent movie should show that clearly. I raid with a few native English speakers, one of them is a Canadian expat working as a CFO in Paris. Not your average 12y old, but one with a phd. He is our raidleader, and pretty much every other raid it goes like ... '... and the we pop lust and rape those adds'. When I RBG exactly the same thing. The word rape is so commonly used to describe a particular gaming situation that has absolutely nothing to do with the criminal sexual context. And definitely not only by 12y olds.

I can give you several examples (that are really hard to translate) of words that got a different meaning / context over time, in the languages I'm familiar with. Every year a ton of new words are being added to the 'standard' dictionary. The standard dictionary is not a group of people who made up a list of official words. It's a constant work in progress, and one - if not the main - of the criteria is how widely used a certain word is. About a decade ago in Holland, young adults/teens would use the word cancer to curse/express disappointment. Over time it became more and more accepted as a curse, and people no longer automatically link it to the disease over there. Just like the evolution of 'god damned ' (in different languages/cultures), where the problem is no longer that you use god damn instead of an alternative, but whether you curse or not curse.

25y ago I went to a catholic school. Back then there were still a lot of mission posts in Africa. The nuns themselves referred to the blacks as 'the little niggers' (in my language then, negerkes). It was not meant disrespectful in any way. Until years later some goof decided that all the blacks are offended by using the word 'neger' (nigger). So all in a sudden we could no longer refer to our black friends the way we described them for over 200 years, and a way that never caused a single problem.

Every day I hear words that could remind me to some though situation in my life, be it on the news, on a forum, in a game, ... I know someone who was murdered by her jealous boyfriend. But when my arena partner suggests to kill the mage, I don't tell him to use a different word. Life ain't faceroll, and there are plenty of bad situations people have to deal with. You, me, everyone has most likely had his/her bowl of shit we had to deal with. Telling someone to not use a widely used word in a totally different context, knowing that it has several official meanings, just for the sake of your own problems is nothing but emo bitching in my opinion. And creating drama. Definitely when done in such an arrogant way.